Earlier this year, Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs of Cushnie et Ochs took their brand out West (the wild, wild West, that is). For spring/summer 2015, they crossed the Atlantic and traveled back in time a few thousand years or so to meet their muse—Queen Cleopatra of ancient Egypt, bringing her alive through their collection with pharaoh mask-inspired stripes and a line-up that reflected the colors of Egyptian desert sunsets, from marigold yellow to Nile blue to desert rose.
“It was very much about creating this balance between expressing her femininity and her strength as a ruler,” Cushnie tells InStyle.com. True to form, even the pieces washed in the softest of pinks held a certain degree of toughness, which in large part, can be credited to their sleek, modern silhouettes, the signature Cushnie et Ochs cut-outs (yes, they were present throughout), and the standout gilded jewelry that accompanied them.
“If we’re going to jewelry, then we’re going to do jewelry,” says Cushnie of the custom Jennifer Fisher pieces. “We felt like it really complemented the clothes—it was very Cleopatra to be dripping in gold. We wanted it to be strong and striking.”
In addition to the double-strand collar necklaces and half-disk earrings, models were armed with double bicep cuffs in bands of solid gold or skinny prongs. And we’re completely obsessed. On our to-do list: Look into migrating our arm cuffs up North for the season.
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